The dissemination of scientific information about the SARS-CoV-2 virus and Covid-19: A case study of the RTVE Lab’s El Método program

Abstract

El Método is a science dissemination program that was broadcast by RTVE.es’s Audiovisual Innovation Laboratory (Lab) during the state of alert in Spain to provide information about Covid-19. The goals of our research were to determine the format (typology and structure), to investigate the production and direction techniques used to record and edit the content, to establish the most representative topics on Covid-19, to define the various types of information sources, to discover if there was gender equity in expert sources, and to identify the informative strategies used to explain the scientific-technological terminology. The results show that Google office tools were used to work remotely; that the information sources complied with gender equality and mainly involved experts; and that a large number of divergent dissemination strategies were used. It is concluded that the Internet is an optimal medium for creating new narratives and for innovating formats, offering an excellent model for informing about health in times of lockdown, while providing useful material for expanding digital skills in journalism and scientific dissemination.

KEYWORDS: science dissemination, scientific journalism, Covid-19, new narratives, dissemination strategies, scientific terminology.